Ah.
Kids are so convenient.
They work without me having to say a word.
And they're talented.
They support my lifestyle without me lifting a finger.
How wonderful.
That said, I can't exactly do nothing forever.
The Demon King I'd been marking should be reaching the lowest layer soon.
After defeating my original body, the Demon King had headed straight for the lowest layer of the Great Ello Dungeon.
I figured it was going to check on what happened to the Queen I'd stolen.
Well, if we run into each other, I don't stand a chance.
If it uses Abyss Magic on me again, I'm done for, so I need to set up an escape route so the parallel will that's currently possessing the Mother's body can get away.
And so, egg-laying begins.
It's tougher this time since my body has shrunk.
Large eggs—big relative to my current body—are being generated inside me.
Tough going.
After pushing for roughly half a day, I finally managed to lay a single egg.
Ah, that was exhausting.
But with that, the preparations are in place.
Now I just need to retreat before Abyss Magic hits me.
Ideally, I'd play dead without getting hit by Abyss Magic at all, but considering the Queen's massive body, there's a high chance it'll use some wide-area annihilation spell, isn't there?
So while I was waiting, sure enough, No. 2 hatched from the egg with a little pop.
Good morning.
{Good morning. Can't do that. It's hopeless.} Right.
You understood what I meant?
{Yeah. There's no winning no matter what.} Just try not to die with that body, for now.
I left some food behind, so help yourself.
{Thanks.} And so, No. 2 has been added to the roster, but I noticed something.
No. 2's species is still Queen Taratect.
Right now it looks the same as when I was reborn, but does that mean it'll eventually grow back into that giant form?
If it does, how long is that going to take?
More importantly, I need to keep my eyes on the Demon King's movements.
I don't think it's likely, but it might catch wind that we're still alive and start hunting for us.
I have to monitor carefully so nothing like last time happens.
The Demon King is still in the lowest layer.
I don't know what it's doing, but as long as it's inside the Great Dungeon, I can't let my guard down.
While all this was going on, the Baby Squad came back again.
Ah, yeah.
I'd half-expected it, but every single one of them had evolved.
On top of that, they'd even earned the Evil Eater Title.
They haven't gotten Monster Slayer or anything yet, but at this rate, it might just be a matter of time.
And it wasn't just the Titles—their Skills were steadily growing too.
Life-based Status enhancement Skills, Vision Enhancement and other sensory amplification Skills.
These kids are seriously too talented.
Do you have any idea how long it took me to reach that level?
Well, I'm not complaining about having capable pawns.
If anything, it works in my favor.
They also brought back Monster corpses properly this time too.
Oh—there's a snake in there.
Seriously?
They can already take down snakes?
That's amazing.
My children leave once more after depositing the Monster corpses, looking as cool as ever.
The whole vibe is starting to feel like a corps of seasoned warriors setting out on a campaign.
Given how quickly they're evolving combined with whatever intense battles they must be fighting—who knows what it's like out there.
If they come back even stronger next time, it honestly wouldn't be out of the question, and that's terrifying.
Anyway, time to eat.
Eating recovers my Status.
Once my Status recovers, molting occurs and my body grows.
I'd never experienced molting outside of a Level up before, but this is what molting is really supposed to be like, huh?
The Level-up molting left too strong an impression.
My body size has mostly recovered—around eighty centimeters now.
Just a little more to go.
But my Status still can't be called fully recovered.
It's sitting around fifteen thousand or so.
That's enough that I wouldn't fall behind against just anyone, but with the Demon King nearby, I'd rather be at full strength before making any moves.
It's not that I desperately want to cling to my current lazy lifestyle or anything.
There is absolutely no such desire.
No. 2 ate a bit too and recovered some Status, but its body is growing bigger than mine at a faster pace.
Guess that makes sense since it started bigger in the first place.
We're eating the same amount, so where exactly is this difference coming from?
Mysterious.
Having experienced the mystery of Monsters, I turn my thoughts to what comes next.
First, once I'm fully recovered, I want to go check on that town where the vampire kids are.
They were worshiping me as a Divine Beast, so they must be in chaos after I suddenly disappeared.
There was also that business about a war with the neighboring country, so it would be a good idea to go and get a handle on the situation.
And then, after assessing things, I'll resume the assault on the Demon King.
As long as we don't run into each other, the odds are in my favor.
If we meet, they have the advantage. If we don't, I do.
If I keep running around with teleportation while continuing to attack, I can win. Theoretically.
There's no conventional way to beat a monster like that. It has to be some kind of trick.
And I happen to have that trick.
So whether it's cowardly or whatever else, I'll go ahead and take my win.
Heh heh heh.
A debt paid in kind.
Just you wait, Demon King.
I hold the Skills of a Hero.
The likes of a Demon King are nothing to fear.
Fufufu.
Ah, but please don't come at me head-on. I'm seriously begging you.